The Study Of The Translator’s Subjectivity In C-E Prose Translation Based On Hermeneutics

Translation is not only a transformation from the source language to the target one but also a rendering of the different cultures, which are deeply rooted in the two different languages, therefore, there exits a close relation between the meaning of the word and its specific cultural background.Some traditional translation theories think that translation is to imitate the original and require the translator to be completely faithful to the original text, which restricts the exertion of the translator’s subjectivity. However, the cultural turn makes the translator’s subjectivity stand out, which has long been obscured, and makes room for his or her creativity in the process of translation. The study of the problem on the translator’s subjectivity has become an important topic in Chinese and western translation research and it gradually has become the focus of many scholars’ research. George Steiner combines Hermeneutics with the translational process to study and divides the translational process into the four stages, that is,"Trust","Aggression","Incorporation", and "Restitution", each of which emphasizes the translator’s subjectivity that concretely manifests the choice of the original text, the option of translational strategies, the handling of culture and the disposing of language.Hermeneutics not only provides the theoretical basis for the research of the translator’s subjectivity but also offers the theoretical frame to the analysis of the exertion of the translator’s subjectivity. This thesis takes this theoretical frame as the basic theory, using Zhang Peiji’Selected Modern Chinese Essays as a research text to analyze the concrete manifestations of the translator’s subjectivity. The case study approach is the main research method in the analysis process of this thesis. It aims to explore the manifestation of the translator’s subjectivity in translation of modern Chinese essays.This paper firstly reviews the achievements of studies on the translator’s subjectivity at home and abroad, and also point out insufficiency on the study of the translator’s subjectivity. Meanwhile, this thesis also expounds the translator’s subjectivity from angles of the choice of the original text, the option of translational strategies, the handling of culture and the disposing of language. It also discusses the restrictive factors, like the cultural background of times, the reader’s consciousness of the translator and his or her language ability. Besides, this paper also takes Zhang Peiji’Selected Modern Chinese Essays as an example, in an attempt to analyze the manifestations of the translator’s subjectivity in translation process. At last, the writer proposes that, in the translation activity, the translator should possess creative consciousness and should not ignore its restrictive factors so as to promote practice and research of translation.